Is this a weight for concern?

[evictedpig]

Hello,
My 4 year old neutered boar piggy was 986g at his weigh in today this morning, and 987g last night, he is usually around 1020g-1060g so I am worried. It is before his veggies, and last week he was 991g before veggies and 1032g in the evening after veggies. He met his 2 friends this week so that could affect it. Normal poos, eating, drinking, no lumps, normal breathing etc. Is this normal fluctuation in weight and my anxiety is just making me overthink or is it cause for concern? I'm getting everyone a general vet check in about a month anyway, but is it urgent-er?

 

[Piggies&buns]

1060 down to 986 is more than you would want to see (but still not 10% of his body weight in loss) but given he has been though a bonding and is still within the hierarchy settling period, I would monitor for another few days and see if he stabilises.
If he doesn’t then I would offer some top up feeds (not necessarily full on syringe feeding), see if that helps for a few more days and speak to the vet if it doesn’t and weight loss continues beyond that

Don’t weigh him more than once a day - weigh him first thing in the morning before he is fed and only use that one against the day before. Weighing in the evenings as well and after veggies is not a true reflection of what his weight is, it picks up too much fluctuation and just confused the picture

 

[Wiebke]

Hello,
My 4 year old neutered boar piggy was 986g at his weigh in today this morning, and 987g last night, he is usually around 1020g-1060g so I am worried. It is before his veggies, and last week he was 991g before veggies and 1032g in the evening after veggies. He met his 2 friends this week so that could affect it. Normal poos, eating, drinking, no lumps, normal breathing etc. Is this normal fluctuation in weight and my anxiety is just making me overthink or is it cause for concern? I'm getting everyone a general vet check in about a month anyway, but is it urgent-er?

Hi

Please switch to weighing your boy every day first thing in the morning (when it is lowest and before you feed breakfast) for the most consistent day to day (or week to week for healthy piggies) comparison since the weight swings around 30-40g over the course of 24 hours. The more often you weigh, the more the weight will jump around - and the less significan the weighing gets.

For this reason, we are not speaking about weight loss until more than 50g have been lost - and that is only the mildest form.

In order to help members with anxiety, I have written these two practical guides here:

This guide here explains what is actually relevant when assessing weight loss; what the various monitoring methods can and cannot do and how you use this to also compute the necessary level of feeding support when that becomes necessary.
Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support Levels

This is a guide specifically for anxiety sufferers and their supporters, which looks in a very practical way at how you can best navigate the various rabbitholes and also manage crisis situations.
Pet Owners Anxiety - Practical Tips For Sufferers and For Supporters

You may find these links hopefully helpful in managing your fretting and any health obsessing to a minimal level and freer to enjoy your piggies/pets.

Please see what happens when you switch to weighing at the same time and if there really is a significant and consistent down tread. Having to share his food and being more active can easily account for him being a little lighter, especially if there are no physical symptoms.